One of the earliest forms of a smoking article was a rolled up or twisted tobacco leaf or a portion of a tobacco leaf. Cigars and cigarettes are popular smoking articles that are typically made substantially entirely of tobacco leaf and/or sheets of reconstituted tobacco. Cigarettes are also known which are made of cut filler overwrapped with a reconstituted tobacco sheet so that the cigarette is made substantially entirely of tobacco.
It is also well known for the consumer to form smoking articles from a supply of tobacco filler and individual sheets of cigarette paper having a glue strip along one longitudinal edge thereof for sealing after being moistened by the consumer's tongue. This manual method of forming a smoking article is commonly known as "rolling-your-own." One advantage of the "roll-your-own" type of cigarette is the typically low cost per cigarette as compared to the cost per cigarette of manufactured and packaged filtered and unfiltered cigarettes. The process of making a cigarette according to this method is not easily mastered and often results in cigarettes of non-uniform density and quality.
In the case of the more expensive, manufactured cigarettes, because of governmental regulations and restrictions placed on the use of smoking articles in the workplace, in public areas and the like, it is sometimes not possible for a smoker to consume an entire cigarette. Accordingly, the smoker often extinguishes and discards the cigarette before it is completely consumed, resulting in wasted product and additional cost to the consumer. Relighting a once-extinguished cigarette frequently results in delivery to the smoker of smoke having less than optimum taste.
In view of the foregoing limitations and disadvantages of prior art smoking articles, it would be desirable to provide a smoking article having a substantially lower cost than conventional manufactured cigarettes and cigars. It would also be desirable to provide an inexpensive smoking article which may be conveniently and easily formed into a smoking article by the consumer.